Good Death in Neurological Practice.

Abstract

Clinicians in neurological practice, particularly surgeons, encounter more deaths than most other specialists. This communication reviews the literature on "good death" and extrapolates the observations and inferences to neurological practice. Changes in approaches to "good death" in the COVID-19 era (coronavirus disease 2019) are also discussed. The author, over a 40-year period, has come across 2,500 deaths in a government, trust, and corporate hospital in Chennai, India. Retrospectively, the author questions if, in spite of his conservatism and obsession with quality of life, he should have taken proactive measures to also ensure a good quality of death. In the background of the lessons learned in a metro, across various socioeconomic groups and with varied access to technology, the author concludes that ensuring "good death" should also fall within the domain of neurologic practice.